Going into the Tour de France as newly crowned French champion, Arnaud Demare had big hopes of taking a stage win early in the race. However, he again missed out in today's big sprint in London and now his team manager Marc Madiot points out that everbody should remember that the young Frenchman is riding his first Tour.

Arnaud Demare won the internal FDJ battle against Nacer Bouhanni for the role as lead sprinter but until now the French champion has not had a lot of succes. In the first stage, he was held up behind a crash and yesterday he went down himself.

Today's stage finished in London and was a big target for Demare who won the RideLondon Classic in 2013. However, the Frenchman failed to make an impact and finished back in 14th.

Now his manager Marc Madiot feels tempted to take the pressure off his sprinter's shoulders.

"In the sprint, Mickael Delage and William Bonnet position Arnaud behind the Giant-Shimano team but he was boxed in," Madiot said. "We must not forget that this is Arnaud Démare's first Tour and he is here to learn. It is very rare that a sprinter wins in his first Tour. Kittel and Cavendish didn't do so and therefore there is no reason to panic. We will continue to have the same plan and try to make him win one of the sprints."